Yukon鈥檚 deputy mining minister says it鈥檚 鈥渦nfortunate and frankly unhelpful鈥� that the owners of the Eagle Gold mine have been 鈥渟ilent in general鈥� about action to remedy a disastrous ore slide that spilled hundreds of millions of litres of cyanide solution.
Lauren Haney said Victoria Gold had been 鈥渄oing a lot of work鈥� to treat and divert contaminated water, but it may not be enough, and the Yukon government was contemplating stepping in to 鈥渃omplement and supplement鈥� the company鈥檚 work.
She told a briefing on Thursday that officials were 鈥渞elying heavily鈥� on the advice from technical experts to keep them apprised of the situation at the disaster site, and the territorial government hasn鈥檛 ruled out taking on a greater role.
鈥淲e are looking at all the scenarios right now, and one of those scenarios is where we would be taking over activities at the site in a more complete way,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of complexities there with the company still being on site and again, to the extent we can, we must complement what the company is already doing and supplement where necessary.鈥�
Haney said an independent review panel would be appointed to investigate what happened at the mine on June 24, with the government already in contact with 鈥渨orld-class experts.鈥�
鈥淭his is similar to what鈥檚 done with any mine failure in the world, this type of independent review panel is struck to ultimately get at the heart of what happened,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd absolutely it鈥檚 with a view to lessons learned and implementing that in our legislation as well as our enforcement regulatory practice.鈥�
The government has estimated the ore slide allowed 300 million litres of cyanide solution to escape containment at the mine鈥檚 heap leach pad, which uses the chemical to extract gold from ore. Eagle Gold mine is about 500 km north of Whitehorse by road.
Yukon mineral resources director Kelly Constable said the situation at the mine site is in flux, and the company is running out of storage space for contaminated water in the mine鈥檚 ponds.
She said Victoria Gold is creating more storage space as a 鈥渢emporary measure,鈥� pumping contaminated water through the mine鈥檚 heap as it tries to buildup additional capacity over the next 10 to 15 days.
Constable said the firm鈥檚 water treatment facility is also unable to currently handle the volume of contaminated water, but it鈥檚 working on upgrading it while increasing monitoring of the stability of the heap leaching facility.
Victoria Gold hasn鈥檛 provided a public update since July 12, saying further information will be provided 鈥渁s it becomes available.鈥�
The company said then it was uncertain if it would ever resume production or if it had the financial resources to repair damage and fix the environmental impact of the disaster.
The company did not immediately respond to phone and emailed requests for comment Thursday.
Yukon Mines Minister John Streicker told Thursday鈥檚 briefing that the Yukon government had sought more information from the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation, whose territory the mine is on, about their call for a mining moratorium on their lands.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 speak for the First Nation, but I will share our understanding that following the heap leach failure, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun does not want any new mineral claims, licenses, exploration, development authorizations or ongoing mining activities on their traditional territory,鈥� Streicker said.
鈥淭he Yukon Government is now working to understand rights and obligations under Canadian and territorial law.鈥�
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